Analysis from Victorian environmental authorities has revealed the whale that washed up on a beach in Victoria's far east almost a week ago is not albino.
Officers from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning [DELWP] and the Victorian Fisheries Authority trekked to the animal's resting place about 1 kilometre up the beach from Mallacoota Inlet on Monday.
"From what they've been able to see on the whale itself, there is evidence of patches of dark-coloured skin on the whale," regional agency commander for DELWP Gippsland, Peter Brick, said.
"This leads the officers to believe that the whale was not a predominantly albino, or white whale. It did have other colour on it.
"What they've been able to see is the evidence from the existing skin looks like it's probably come off the whale whilst it's been at sea and then washed up on shore.
Officers also took photographs and measurements of the carcass, as well as samples of its skin and blubber to send to Museums Victoria for analysis.
It still wasn't clear why and how the whale died.
"There are no obvious signs of injury or cause of death so, at this stage, we're not 100 per cent sure," Mr Brick said.
DELWP said the remote location of the carcass meant it would be left to decompose on the beach, which was expected to take several weeks but big tides could also take it back out to sea or move it to a different spot on the beach.
"In terms of managing the carcass, or doing anything else with it, it wouldn't be feasible or we'd end up doing a lot of damage to try and do anything else other than leave the carcass in situ to decompose naturally," Mr Brick said.
"We'll continue to monitor that stretch of beach over the coming days and weeks just so we've got an idea in case that carcass does move and we can issue appropriate alerts to anyone using the beach."
There is a warning out for the potential for increased shark activity in the area due to the carcass decomposing and people are also required to stay at least 300 metres away from it.
